Low I/O bandwidth method and system for implementing detection and identification of scrambling codes

ABSTRACT

A system for detecting and identifying the identity of a base station or cell which transmits a scrambling code is provided. According to one aspect of the system, the system is used to perform scrambling code detection of eight (8) primary cells (each scrambling code being spaced sixteen (16) chips apart) in a group. According to another aspect of the system, a single scrambling code generator is used to generate a master scrambling code. The master scrambling code is then used to create individual scrambling codes which are used in correlation with received signals to detect in parallel which one of the eight (8) possible primary cells in the group transmitted the received signals. According to yet another aspect of the system, each of the correlators maintains a corresponding segment of the master scrambling code. For every sixteen (16) chips, a new segment of the master scrambling code is introduced into one of the correlators, a segment of the master scrambling code is dropped from another correlator, and segments of the master scrambling code are sequentially shifted or propagated through the remaining correlators; and concurrent correlations are performed by the correlators using their respective corresponding segments of the master scrambling code and newly received signals.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

The present application is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No.(to be assigned) entitled “A METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DETECTING ANDIDENTIFYING SCRAMBLING CODES,” by Sharad Sambhwani et al., commonlyowned and filed concurrently herewith, the disclosure of which is herebyincorporated by reference in their entirety as if set forth in fullherein for all purposes.

The present application is also related to U.S. patent application Ser.No. 09/815,122 entitled “ADAPTIVE INTEGRATED CIRCUITRY WITHHETEROGENEOUS AND RECONFIGURABLE MATRICES OF DIVERSE AND ADAPTIVECOMPUTATIONAL UNITS HAVING FIXED, APPLICATION SPECIFIC COMPUTATIONALELEMENTS,” filed on Mar. 22, 2001, the disclosure of which is herebyincorporated by reference in their entirety as if set forth in fullherein for all purposes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to scrambling codes. Morespecifically, the present invention relates to a method and system fordetecting scrambling codes within a W-CDMA communication system.

Code acquisition is a fundamental algorithm required in any directsequence spread spectrum (DSSS) receiver. Prior to de-spreading,demodulating and decoding frames, such a receiver needs to acquireknowledge of timing information relating to the underlying spreadingwaveform being used to spread the data-bearing signal. According to thewide-band code division multiple access (W-CDMA) communication system ofthe 3GPP standards body, upon turning on a mobile terminal or device, a3-step initial cell search procedure needs to be performed to acquirethe primary scrambling code which is used to spread the data bearingchannels. Examples of such channels are the primary common pilot channel(P-CPICH) and the dedicated physical channel (DPCH).

The first step of the 3-step initial cell search procedure relates toslot timing. In a W-CDMA communication system, each base stationtransmits its own scrambling code in frames over the air to a mobileterminal. Each frame is made up of fifteen (15) slots. Before the startof a frame can be located, the start of a slot needs to be identifiedfirst. Once the start of a slot is identified, then it can be assuredthat one of the next fifteen (15) slots represents the start of a frame.Upon conclusion of the first step, the start of a slot is identified.

The second step of the 3-step initial cell search procedure relates toframe timing. As mentioned above, at the end of the first step, thestart of a slot is identified. Once that is achieved, the start of aframe can then be identified. Within a W-CDMA communication system,there are five hundred and twelve (512) base stations within thenetwork. The base stations are identified in the network by a networkmatrix. The network matrix has sixty-four groups (64) and each group haseight (8) cells. A particular base station is identified by its groupand its cell position within the group. During this second step, thestart of a frame is identified and the mobile terminal can thensynchronize to the identified frame and obtain information relating togroup identification. Upon conclusion of the second step, the groupwhich contains the base station that sent out the frame (or scramblingcode) is identified, i.e., one out of sixty-four (64) group isidentified.

Upon completing the first two steps of the initial cell searchprocedure, the receiver has knowledge of the slot and frame timing ofthe received scrambling code, such as a P-CPICH signal. The receiveralso has knowledge of the group identification of the base station orcell being acquired. The group identification information containsinformation on all eight (8) primary cells within the group. Since thereare eight (8) cells in a group, using the group identificationinformation, the receiver needs only to identify one (1) out of eight(8) possible primary cells from the group.

To achieve this goal, the receiver may use one of two conventionalapproaches. Under the first approach, the receiver may perform acorrelation of the received signals with a parallel bank of eight (8)scrambling code generators (typical correlation length N ranges from 64to 256 chips based on frequency offset in the received signals). All theeight (8) correlations are performed within N chips, at the expense ofusing eight (8) parallel scrambling code generators.

Under the second approach, the receiver may sequentially correlate thereceived signals with eight (8) possible scrambling codes for N chipseach. Using a single scrambling code generator, one may attain all eight(8) correlation results after slightly greater than 8*N chips (thisnumber of chips is needed to allow for reassigning the scrambling codegenerator to another phase offset, after each correlation is performed),

Implementations may not be limited to the above two conventionalapproaches. The above two approaches were explained for the case of realtime processing of the CDMA signal, i.e. no buffering of received datawas assumed for these two cases.

As mentioned above, the eight (8) scrambling codes may be generated inparallel, using eight (8) separate scrambling code generators eachoperating independently, or the eight (8) scrambling codes maybegenerated using a single scrambling code generator using eight (8) setsof masks (a set=4 18-bit masks). However, both of these approachesrequire additional power consumption/silicon area. Under the firstapproach, additional scrambling code generators are needed; and underthe second approach, additional memory storage is needed to store thereceived signals and it takes additional time to generate and processthe necessary scrambling codes in a sequential manner.

Hence, it would be desirable to provide a method and system which iscapable of generating scrambling codes for correlation to identify areceived scrambling code in a more efficient manner.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An exemplary method of the present invention is used to performscrambling code detection of eight (8) primary cells (each scramblingcode being spaced sixteen (16) chips apart) in a group. According to theexemplary method, a single scrambling code generator is used to generatea master scrambling code. The master scrambling code is then used tocreate individual scrambling codes which are used in correlation withreceived signals to detect in parallel which one of the eight (8)possible primary cells in the group transmitted the received signals.The individual scrambling codes are created based on the fact that eachcell's phase reference is spaced sixteen (16) chips apart.

The use of this exemplary method reduces the complexity of scramblingcode or PN generator(s) in the parallel search implementation. Morespecifically, the use of this exemplary method avoids the need toutilize parallel logic to generate eight (8) scrambling codes. Sinceeach primary scrambling code within a group is sixteen (16) chips apart,a buffer is used to store a sequential stream of scrambling code (i.e.,the master scrambling code) output from a single scrambling codegenerator, and the received data is correlated in parallel with 16-chipoffsets of portions of the master scrambling code. Eight dimensions aremapped to a single dimension at the expense of a slight increase instorage size.

This exemplary method can be used as part of an overall 3-step initialcell search procedure to acquire the downlink of a 3GPP WCDMA cell,which more specifically corresponds to part of the stage 3 portion ofthe cell search procedure.

According to an exemplary implementation of the exemplary method of thepresent invention, the exemplary implementation includes a singlescrambling code generator and eight (8) correlators arranged insequential order. Each of the correlators maintains a correspondingsegment of the master scrambling code. For every sixteen (16) chips, anew segment of the master scrambling code is introduced into one of thecorrelators by the scrambling code generator, a segment of the masterscrambling code is dropped from another correlator, and segments of themaster scrambling code are sequentially shifted or propagated throughthe remaining correlators; and concurrent correlations are performed bythe correlators using their respective corresponding segments of themaster scrambling code and newly received signals. The foregoing processis repeated until a desired correlation length is achieved.

Reference to the remaining portions of the specification, including thedrawings and claims, will realize other features and advantages of thepresent invention. Further features and advantages of the presentinvention, as well as the structure and operation of various embodimentsof the present invention, are described in detail below with respect toaccompanying drawings, like reference numbers indicate identical orfunctionally similar elements.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a simplified diagram illustrating the timing of the scramblingcodes of the eight (8) cells within a group;

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary method of the presentinvention;

FIG. 3 is a simplified diagram illustrating parallel correlations ofeight (8) cells in a group using a single scrambling code generatoraccording to the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a simplified diagram illustrating one exemplary implementationof the exemplary method according to the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating one exemplary implementation ofthe exemplary method in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a simplified diagram illustrating a second exemplaryimplementation of the exemplary method in accordance with the presentinvention;

FIG. 7 a is a diagram illustrating correlation results generated by theexemplary method shown in FIG. 3 in accordance with the presentinvention; and

FIG. 7 b is a diagram illustrating correlation results generated afterone iteration by the exemplary implementation shown in FIG. 6 inaccordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention in the form of one or more exemplary embodimentswill now be discussed. The present invention can be applied to the thirdstep of the initial cell search procedure when a mobile terminal isinitially powered on to identify the base station or cell whichtransmitted the received signals containing a scrambling code. FIG. 1 isa simplified diagram illustrating the timing of the scrambling codes ofthe eight (8) cells within a group. Referring to FIG. 1, the scramblingcode of each cell is transmitted on a periodic basis and the period ofthe scrambling code of each cell is thirty-eight thousand and fourhundred (38,400) chips, i.e., the scrambling code of each cell isrepeated after 38,400 chips. For example, for cell “0”, C₀ istransmitted at t₀ and at t_(38,400). Furthermore, the scrambling codesof any two adjacent cells are offset by sixteen (16) chips. For example,cells “0” and “1” transmit C₀ and C₁₆ respectively at t₀. The scramblingcodes of all the cells within the group are transmitted at the sameframe boundary. By having a 16-chip offset between two adjacent cells,the scrambling codes between two adjacent groups of cells are offset byone hundred and twenty-eight (128) (16*8=128).

According to one exemplary method of the present invention, a scramblingcode represented by the received signals is identified by using a singlescrambling code generator to attain N chip correlation of the receivedsignals with eight (8) primary scrambling codes in a group withinN+16*7=N+112 chips.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary method of the presentinvention. Referring to FIG. 2, at 20, the correlation length N is firstdetermined. The correlation length N is the amount of time during whichcorrelation between the received signals and the generated scramblingcodes is summed up. The correlation length N is selected such thatreasonable correlation results can be obtained. Typical values of thecorrelation length N range from sixty-four (64) to two hundred andfifty-six (256), depending on the relative carrier frequency offsetbetween the transmitted and received signals. A person of ordinary skillin the art will know how to select the proper correlation length. Next,at 22, using the selected correlation length, the chip offset (CO)between two adjacent scrambling codes, and the number of cells (C)within a group, a master scrambling code is generated. The masterscrambling code has a period, e.g., 38,400 chips, which is sufficient toallow correlations to be performed reliably. N+CO*(C−1) corresponds tothe amount of code needed to be generated to perform a correlation oflength N with C cells spaced CO chips apart. It should be noted that theproduct term CO*C represents the chip offset between the respectivescrambling codes of the first cells of two adjacent groups of basestations or cells. As mentioned above, during the first two steps of theinitial cell search procedure, the start of the frame containing thescrambling code is identified and group identification informationrelating to the group which includes the cell that transmitted thereceived signals is available. With this information, the group whichincludes the cell that transmitted the received signals is identified.Moreover, using this information, the proper master scrambling codewhich covers all the possible scrambling codes from all the cells withinthe identified group can be generated. At 24, portions of the masterscrambling code are used to create individual scrambling codes whichcorrespond to the cells within the identified group. These individualscrambling codes are then correlated with the received signals in aparallel manner to determine which of the cells within the identifiedgroup transmitted the received signals.

The following is an example illustrating the exemplary method of thepresent invention. The example is based on the following assumptions:the correlation length N is two hundred and fifty-six (256); the chipoffset CO is sixteen (16); and the number of cells C within theidentified group is eight (8). The period of the master scrambling codeis thirty-eight thousand and four hundred (38,400) chips.

Next, three hundred and sixty-eight (368) chips (C₀→C₃₆₇) of masterscrambling code is generated from a single scrambling code generatortuned to the first primary cell of the underlying identified group. Thelength of three hundred and sixty-eight (368) chips is determined basedon the formula N+CO*(C−1) which, in this case, equals to256+16*(8−1)=256+16*7=256+112=368. It should be noted that it is notnecessary to generate all three hundred and sixty-eight (368) chipsprior to correlation. The generation of three hundred and sixty-eight(368) chips is specified to emphasize the total number of chips requiredout of the scrambling code generator to implement eight (8) parallelcorrelations of two hundred and fifty-six (256) chips each.

FIG. 3 is a simplified diagram illustrating parallel correlations ofeight (8) cells in a group using a single scrambling code generator. Asshown in FIG. 3, each of the eight (8) correlators correlates thereceived signals (D₀→D₂₅₅) with two hundred and fifty-six (256) chips ofscrambling code, each starting at an offset of sixteen (16) chips. Forexample, the first correlator correlates the received signals (D₀→D₂₅₅)with the complex conjugate of (C₀→C₂₅₅); the second correlatorcorrelates the received signals (D₀→D₂₅₅) with the complex conjugate of(C₁₆→C₂₇₁); and so on, and the final correlator correlates the receivedsignals (D₀→D₂₅₅) with the complex conjugate of (C₁₁₂→C₃₆₇). Thecorrelation results are then obtained from each of the correlators. Byevaluating the correlation results, the scrambling code represented bythe received signals can be identified and, hence, the identity of thebase station or cell which transmitted the received signals can also bedetermined.

FIG. 4 is a simplified diagram illustrating an exemplary implementationof the exemplary method described above in accordance with the presentinvention. It is to be noted that the received signals are processedsimultaneously in real-time by eight (8) parallel correlators. Thescrambling code generator generates three hundred and sixty-eight (368),i.e., N+112 chips. This is in contrast to 8N chips that must begenerated for the alternative approach in the parallel searchimplementation. Hence, there is a factor of 8N/(N+128) savings on thescrambling code generation complexity using the present invention, whichequals to 5.3 for N=256 (an 82% reduction in complexity).

The exemplary method of the present invention as described may beimplemented in software, hardware or a combination of both. For example,the exemplary method of the present invention may be implemented ascontrol logic using software embedded in a mobile terminal. Whenimplemented using software, the exemplary method may be implemented in amodular or integrated manner within the mobile terminal. Based ondisclosure provided herein, a person of ordinary skill in the art willknow of other ways and/or methods to implement the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, it can be seen that in accordance with theexemplary method, for a correlation length of two hundred and fifty-six(256), a 16-chip offset between scrambling codes and eight (8) cellswithin a group, a master scrambling code with a period of thirty-eightthousand and four hundred (38,400) chips is generated. This wouldrequire a global storage access of 8N*2 locations (since data iscomplex) for every N chips of correlation. If hardware resources are notlimited, then the master scrambling code and the received signals can bestored in memory registers and each correlator can then read out thecorresponding 256-chip scrambling code that it needs to perform thecorrelation.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary implementation of theexemplary method described above in accordance with the presentinvention. As will be illustrated below, the exemplary implementationreduces the storage and access requirements needed to implement theexemplary method in accordance with the present invention. Referring toFIG. 5, at 50, a portion of the master scrambling code is generated topopulate the correlators. The generation of the master scrambling codeby a single scrambling code generator is described above. The number ofcorrelators and the length of each correlator respectively depend on thenumber of cells within a group and the chip offset between therespective scrambling codes of two adjacent cells within the group. Thecorrelators collectively contain the entire generated portion of themaster scrambling code, i.e., each correlator is populated with asegment of the generated portion of the master scrambling code. Thelength of the portion of the master scrambling code to be generateddepends on the chip offset between the respective scrambling codes oftwo adjacent groups of cells. As mentioned above, this chip offset, inturn, depends on the number of cells within a group and the chip offsetbetween the respective scrambling codes of two adjacent cells within thegroup. For instance, for a W-CDMA communication system, there are eight(8) cells in a group and the chip offset between the scrambling codes oftwo adjacent cells within the group is sixteen (16). Hence, the lengthof the portion of the master scrambling code to be initially generatedis one hundred and twenty-eight (128=16*8) chips.

At 52, a set of received signals are captured. The duration of thecapture period equals to the chip offset between the respectivescrambling codes of two adjacent cells within a group. For a W-CDMAcommunication system, the duration of the capture period is thus sixteen(16) chips.

At 54, the set of received signals are correlated with the generatedportion of the master scrambling code by the correlators and thecorrelation results are stored. After the correlations are performed, at56, each correlator shifts or propagates its segment of the generatedportion of the master scrambling code to its neighboring correlator,with the exception that, at 58, the first correlator discards itscurrent segment and the last correlator receives a newly generatedsegment from the single scrambling code generator. Then, the processreturns to 52 where the next set of received signals are captured andcorrelated. The foregoing process is repeated until the entire masterscrambling code is generated and correlated. From an alternativeperspective, this can be viewed as segments of the master scramblingcode being correlated in a pipelined fashion on a first-in-first-outbasis.

FIG. 6 is an exemplary physical implementation of the exemplary methoddescribed above. Referring to FIG. 6, there is shown an exemplary system60 having a single scrambling code generator 62 and eight (8)correlators 64-78. This exemplary system 60 operates based on thefollowing assumptions: there are eight (8) cells in a group; the chipoffset between the respective scrambling codes of two adjacent cells ina group is sixteen (16) chips; and the correlation length N is selectedto be two hundred and fifty-six (256).

The exemplary system 60 operates as follows. Initially, before anycorrelation is performed, the correlators COR₀-COR₇ 64-78 arecollectively populated with a portion of the master scrambling code bythe single scrambling code generator 62. The portion of the masterscrambling code that is initially generated is one hundred andtwenty-eight (128=16*8) in length (C₀→C₁₂₇). This portion of the masterscrambling code is segmented and populated into the correlatorsCOR₀-COR₇ 64-78. Each correlator has a length of sixteen (16). Forexample, after initial population, correlator COR₀ 78 includesscrambling code segment C₀-C₅; correlator COR₁ 76 includes segmentC₁₆-C₃₁; and correlator COR₇ 64 includes segment C₁₁₂-C₁₂₇; and so on.It should be noted that the initial generation of all one hundred andtwenty-eight (128) chips of the portion of the master scrambling codebefore starting any of the correlations is not required. One of thecorrelators 64-78 can be started every sixteen (16) chips in a pipelinedfashion.

Next, a set of complex data signals or samples which is sixteen (16)chips in length, D₀-D₁₅, are received and fed to each of the correlators64-78. Then, each correlator partially correlates the same set ofreceived complex data samples with the complex conjugate of itscorresponding scrambling code segment. It is to be noted that therespective scrambling code segments of any two adjacent correlators havea chip offset of sixteen (16) chips. For example, the first correlatorCOR₀ 78 correlates the received data samples, D₀-D₁₅, with the complexconjugate of its corresponding scrambling code segment, C₀-C₁₅; thesecond correlator COR₁ 76 correlates the received data samples, D₀-D₁₅,with the complex conjugate of its corresponding scrambling code segment,C₁₆-C₃₁; and so on, and the final correlator COR₇ 64 correlates thereceived data samples, D₀-D₁₅, with the complex conjugate of itscorresponding scrambling code segment, C₁₁₂-C₁₂₇. The correlations ofthe eight (8) correlators 64-78 are performed concurrently in a parallelmanner and the correlation results are stored for subsequent evaluation.

After this first iteration of correlations, each correlator passes itscurrent corresponding scrambling code segment to a neighboringcorrelator. It should be noted that each correlator has two neighboringcorrelators. In effect, with two exceptions which will be describedbelow, this means each correlator also receives a new correspondingscramble code segment from another neighboring correlator. Graphically,this is shown as follows: COR₁→COR₀, COR₂→COR₁, COR₃→COR₂, COR₄→COR₃,COR₅→COR₄, COR₆→COR₅. In essence, the scrambling code segments areshifted or propagated along the correlators 64-78. The two exceptionsare the first correlator COR₀ 78 and the last correlator COR₇ 64. Forthe first correlator COR₀ 78, its current corresponding scramble codesegment is discarded; and for the last correlator COR₇ 64, a newscrambling code segment generated by the single scrambling codegenerator 62 is fed to the last correlator COR₇ 64. The newly generatedscrambling code segment is the next segment of the master scramblingcode that follows the scrambling code segment that was in the lastcorrelator COR₇ 64 before that scrambling code segment was transferredto correlator COR₆ 66. For example, after the first iteration, the newlygenerated scrambling code segment to be fed into the last correlatorCOR₇ 64 is C₁₂₈-C₁₄₃. This is because scrambling code segment C₁₂₈-C₁₄₃follows scrambling code segment C₁₁₂-C₁₂₇ within the master scramblingcode. By shifting or transferring the scrambling code segments asdescribed above, the entire master scrambling code is propagated alongall the correlators 64-78 and is eventually correlated with the receiveddata samples as described in FIG. 3.

The next set of complex data samples are received, D₁₆-D₃₁, and loadedinto the correlators 64-78. Another iteration of concurrent correlationsby the correlators 64-78 is then performed again. The foregoing processof shifting the scrambling code segments, receiving the next set ofcomplex data samples and performing another iteration of correlations isrepeated until the master scrambling code is correlated or, conversely,the collective length of all the received complex data samples reachesthe correlation length.

FIG. 7 a illustrates the correlation results generated using theexemplary method shown in FIG. 3. FIG. 7 b illustrates the correlationresults after the first iteration of correlations by the exemplarysystem 60. Comparing FIGS. 7 a and 7 b, it can be seen that by using theexemplary system 60 shown in FIG. 6, sixteen (16) terms are generated byeach of the eight (8) correlations after one iteration. Hence, in orderto generate the complete results as shown in FIG. 7 a based on acorrelation length of two hundred and fifty-six (256), sixteen (16)total iterations are executed.

As can be seen above, scrambling code segments which make up the masterscrambling code are internally shared amongst correlators 64-78. Forevery predetermined period (that is defined by the chip offset betweenthe respective scrambling codes of any two adjacent cells within agroup), e.g., sixteen (16) chips, the corresponding scrambling codesegment of each correlator is refreshed or updated. This sharing ofscrambling code segment reduces the access to the otherwise globallystored master scrambling code by a factor of eight (8) (for cases usingthe above assumptions), i.e., 2N scrambling code read accesses arerequired every N chips of correlations.

In addition, for every iteration of correlations, the scrambling codegenerator 62 transfers or generates only 2N/16 binary values to one ofthe correlators 64-78. As mentioned above, the rest of the correlators66-78 internally share the scrambling code segments which are alreadypresent amongst the correlators 64-78.

To further reduce scrambling code memory access as well as eachcorrelator's working size, the technique of packing and unpacking bitsmay be used. If the above binary values were packed into a word and thenunpacked at the time of correlation, the scrambling code generator 62then needs to transfer only 2N/(16*16) 16-bit words to the group ofcorrelators 64-78. That is, the working size of each correlator may bereduced to 2N/(16*16) by packing sixteen (16) bits at a time. This alsoreduces scrambling code storage access to 2N/16.

Furthermore, it is understood that while the present invention asdescribed above is applicable to a W-CDMA communication system, itshould be clear to a person of ordinary skill in the art that thepresent invention can be applied to other types of communicationsystems.

Moreover, it should be noted that the present invention as describedherein may be implemented in a number of ways. For example, the presentinvention may be implemented using the adaptive computing architectureas disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/815,122 entitled“ADAPTIVE INTEGRATED CIRCUITRY WITH HETEROGENEOUS AND RECONFIGURABLEMATRICES OF DIVERSE AND ADAPTIVE COMPUTATIONAL UNITS HAVING FIXED,APPLICATION SPECIFIC COMPUTATIONAL ELEMENTS,” filed on Mar. 22, 2001,the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in theirentirety as if set forth in full herein for all purposes. For instance,using the adaptive computing architecture, the scrambling code generator62 and the correlators 64-78 may be implemented on demand within amobile terminal. Based on the disclosure provided herein, a person ofordinary skill in the art will know of other ways and/or methods toimplement and apply the present invention.

It is further understood that the examples and embodiments describedherein are for illustrative purposes only and that various modificationsor changes in light thereof will be suggested to persons skilled in theart and are to be included within the spirit and purview of thisapplication and scope of the appended claims. All publications, patents,and patent applications cited herein are hereby incorporated byreference for all purposes in their entirety.

1. A system for identifying a scrambling code from signals received froma base station, comprising: a scrambling code generator configured togenerate a plurality of scrambling code segments in a sequential manner,the plurality of scrambling code segments making up a master scramblingcode; and a plurality of correlators arranged in a sequential manner,each correlator maintaining a corresponding scrambling code segment andconfigured to correlate a set of received signals with its correspondingscrambling code segment and generate corresponding correlation results,the plurality of correlators collectively performing their correlationsin a parallel manner in one or more iterations; wherein after eachperformed iteration, all but one of the plurality of correlators shifttheir corresponding scrambling code segments to their respectiveneighboring correlators and a new scrambling code segment is generatedby the scrambling code generator and fed to one of the plurality ofcorrelators.
 2. The system according to claim 1 wherein the number ofiterations performed by the plurality of correlators depends on aselected correlation length and a predetermined chip offset; and whereinthe length of each correlator depends on the predetermined chip offset.3. The system according to claim 1 wherein after each performediteration, a new set of received signals is received by each correlator.4. The system according to claim 1 wherein the correlation resultsgenerated by the plurality of correlators are evaluated to identify thescrambling code from the received signals thereby allowing the identityof the base station which transmitted the received signals to beidentified.
 5. The system according to claim 1 wherein the plurality ofcorrelators perform their correlations in a real-time manner.
 6. Amobile terminal incorporating the system as recited in claim
 1. 7. Thesystem according to claim 1 wherein the base station is located in aW-CDMA communication network.
 8. A system for identifying a scramblingcode from signals received from a base station, the base stationbelonging to one of a plurality of base station groups in acommunication network, the system comprising: a scrambling codegenerator configured to generate a plurality of scrambling code segmentsin a sequential manner, the plurality of scrambling code segments makingup a master scrambling code; and a plurality of correlators arranged ina sequential manner, each correlator maintaining a correspondingscrambling code segment and configured to correlate a set of receivedsignals with its corresponding scrambling code segment and generatecorresponding correlation results, the plurality of correlatorscollectively performing their correlations in a parallel manner in oneor more iterations; wherein after each performed iteration, all but oneof the plurality of correlators shift their corresponding scramblingcode segments to their respective neighboring correlators and a newscrambling code segment is generated by the scrambling code generatorand fed to one of the plurality of correlators.
 9. The system accordingto claim 8 wherein the number of iterations performed by the pluralityof correlators depends on a selected correlation length and apredetermined chip offset; and wherein the length of each correlatordepends on the predetermined chip offset.
 10. The system according toclaim 8 wherein after each performed iteration, a new set of receivedsignals is received by each correlator.
 11. The system according toclaim 8 wherein the correlation results generated by the plurality ofcorrelators are evaluated to identify the scrambling code from thereceived signals thereby allowing the identity of the base station whichtransmitted the received signals to be identified.
 12. The systemaccording to claim 8 wherein the master scrambling code has a perioddetermined by a selected correlation length and a predetermined groupchip offset.
 13. The system according to claim 12 wherein thepredetermined group chip offset is determined by the number of basestations within a base station group and a predetermined chip offset.14. The system according to claim 8 wherein the number of the pluralityof correlators depends on the number of base stations within a basestation group.
 15. The system according to claim 8 wherein the pluralityof correlators perform their correlations in a real-time manner.
 16. Amobile terminal incorporating the system as recited in claim
 8. 17. Thesystem according to claim 8 wherein the communication network is aW-CDMA communication network.
 18. A system for identifying a scramblingcode from signals received from a base station, the base stationbelonging to one of a plurality of base station groups in acommunication network, the system comprising: a scrambling codegenerator configured to generate a plurality of scrambling code segmentsin a sequential manner, the plurality of scrambling code segments makingup a master scrambling code; and a plurality of correlators coupled in asequential manner and having a first correlator, a last correlator and aplurality of intermediate correlators coupled between the firstcorrelator and the last correlator, the plurality of correlatorsconfigured to perform correlations in a parallel manner in one or moreiterations; wherein: the plurality of correlators are each populatedwith corresponding scrambling code segments generated by the scramblingcode generator; each of the plurality of correlators receives a set ofreceived data samples; the plurality of correlators correlate the set ofreceived data samples with their corresponding scrambling code segmentsin parallel in one iteration; after the one iteration is completed, theplurality of intermediate correlators and the last correlator shifttheir corresponding scrambling code segments to their respectiveneighboring correlator, the corresponding scrambling code segment of thefirst correlator is discarded, and a new scrambling code segment isgenerated by the scrambling code generator and fed to the lastcorrelator.
 19. The system according to claim 18 wherein after the oneiteration is completed, a new set of received data samples is receivedby the plurality of correlators.
 20. The system according to claim 18wherein the master scrambling code has a period determined by a selectedcorrelation length and a predetermined group chip offset.
 21. The systemaccording to claim 20 wherein the predetermined group chip offset isdetermined by the number of base stations within a base station groupand a predetermined chip offset.
 22. The system according to claim 18wherein the number of the plurality of correlators depends on the numberof base stations within a base station group.
 23. The system accordingto claim 18 wherein the plurality of correlators perform theircorrelations in a real-time manner.
 24. The system according to claim 18wherein the new scrambling code segment follows the correspondingscrambling code segment which was in the last correlator before thatcorresponding scrambling code segment was shifted.
 25. A mobile terminalincorporating the system as recited in claim
 18. 26. The systemaccording to claim 18 wherein the communication network is a W-CDMAcommunication network and the system is used in connection withacquisition of a downlink of a 3GPP W-CDMA cell during stage 3 of a cellsearch procedure.
 27. A method for identifying a scrambling code fromsignals received from a base station, comprising: selecting acorrelation length; identifying a master scrambling code using theselected correlation length, the master scrambling code comprising aplurality of scrambling code segments arranged in a sequential manner;populating each of a plurality of correlators with a correspondingscrambling code segment in a sequential manner; providing a set ofreceived data samples to each of the plurality of correlators; causingeach of the plurality of correlators to correlate the set of receiveddata samples with its corresponding scrambling code segment and storecorresponding correlation results; shifting the corresponding scramblingcode segments of all but one of the plurality of correlators to theirrespective neighboring correlators; populating one of the plurality ofcorrelators with a new scrambling code segment, the new scrambling codesegment sequentially following the corresponding scrambling codesegments which have previously been used to populate the plurality ofcorrelators; and repeating the providing step, the causing step, theshifting step and the populating step with the new scrambling codesegment with successive sets of received data samples until the selectedcorrelation length is achieved.
 28. The method of claim 27 furthercomprising: evaluating the stored correlation results generated by theplurality of correlators to identify the scrambling code from thesignals received from the base station thereby allowing the identity ofthe base station to be identified.
 29. The method of claim 27 whereinthe causing step further comprises: causing each of the plurality ofcorrelators to correlate in a concurrent and real-time manner.
 30. Amobile terminal utilizing the method as recited in claim
 27. 31. Themethod according to claim 27 wherein the base station is located in aW-CDMA communication network and the method is used in connection withacquisition of a downlink of a 3GPP W-CDMA cell during stage 3 of a cellsearch procedure.
 32. A method for identifying a scrambling code fromsignals received from a base station, the base station belonging to oneof a plurality of base station groups in a communication network, themethod comprising: identifying a master scrambling code, the masterscrambling code comprising a plurality of scrambling code segmentsarranged in a sequential manner; performing a series of successivecorrelation iterations using a number of scrambling code segments takenfrom the plurality of scrambling code segments and corresponding sets ofreceived data samples; and for each correlation iteration: providing anew set of received data samples; correlating the new set of receiveddata samples with the number of scrambling code segments and storingcorrelation results; and refreshing the number of scrambling codesegments in a first-in-first-out basis by discarding one scrambling codesegment and adding another scrambling code segment.
 33. The method ofclaim 32 further comprising: evaluating the collectively storedcorrelation results to identify the scrambling code from the signalsreceived from the base station thereby allowing the identity of the basestation to be identified.
 34. The method of claim 32 wherein for eachcorrelation iteration, the correlating step further comprises:correlating the new set of received data samples with each of the numberof scrambling code segments in a concurrent manner.
 35. The method ofclaim 32 further comprising: selecting a correlation length; and whereinthe period of the master scrambling code depends on the correlationlength and a predetermined group chip offset.
 36. The method of claim 35wherein the predetermined group chip offset depends on the number ofbase stations within a base station group and a predetermined chipoffset between two adjacent base stations within the base station group.37. The method of claim 35 wherein the number of successive correlationiterations depends on the selected correlation length and the number ofscrambling code segments being correlated during each correlationiteration.
 38. A mobile terminal utilizing the method as recited inclaim
 32. 39. The method according to claim 32 wherein the communicationnetwork is a W-CDMA comm unication network and the method is used inconnection with acquisition of a downlink of a 3GPP W-CDMA cell duringstage 3 of a cell search procedure.
 40. A method for identifying ascrambling code from signals received from a base station, the basestation belonging to one of a plurality of base station groups in acommunication network, the method comprising: identifying a masterscrambling code, the master scrambling code comprising a plurality ofscrambling code segments arranged in a sequential manner; configuring ascrambling code generator to generate the plurality of scrambling codesegments one scrambling code segment at a time; configuring a pluralityof correlators in a sequential manner to perform correlations, theplurality of correlators having a first correlator, a last correlatorand a plurality of intermediate correlators coupled between the firstcorrelator and the last correlator; populating each of the plurality ofcorrelators with a corresponding scrambling code segment generated fromthe scrambling code generator; causing the plurality of correlators toperform a series of successive correlation iterations using theircorresponding scrambling code segments and corresponding sets ofreceived data samples; and for each correlation iteration: providing anew set of received data samples; causing the plurality of correlatorsto respectively correlate the new set of received data samples withtheir corresponding scrambling code segments and store respectivecorrelation results; shifting the corresponding scrambling code segmentsof the plurality of intermediate correlators and the last correlator totheir respective neighboring correlators; transferring a new scramblingcode segment generated by the scrambling code generator to the lastcorrelator, the new scrambling code segment is in sequence with thecorresponding scrambling code segment which was previously present inthe last correlator.
 41. The method of claim 40 further comprising: foreach correlation iteration, discarding the corresponding scrambling codesegment of the first correlator.
 42. The method of claim 40 wherein thecausing step further comprises: causing the plurality of correlators tocorrelate in a concurrent manner.
 43. The method of claim 40 furthercomprising: selecting a correlation length; and wherein the period ofthe master scrambling code depends on the correlation length and apredetermined group chip offset.
 44. The method of claim 43 wherein thepredetermined group chip offset depends on the number of base stationswithin a base station group and a predetermined chip offset between twoadjacent base stations within the base station group.
 45. The method ofclaim 43 wherein the number of successive correlation iterations dependson the selected correlation length and the length of each scramblingcode segment.
 46. A mobile terminal utilizing the method as recited inclaim
 40. 47. The method according to claim 40 wherein the communicationnetwork is a W-CDMA communication network and the method is used inconnection with acquisition of a downlink of a 3GPP W-CDMA cell duringstage 3 of a cell search procedure.